Musgrove, 062773 MSAGO, 1973-0002

Case DateJune 27, 1973
CourtMississippi
Mr. Orvel E. Musgrove
No. 1973-0002
Mississippi Attorney General Opinions
June 27, 1973
         Mr. Orvel E. Musgrove          Box 588          Starkville, Mississippi 39759          Dear Mr. Musgrove:          Attorney General Summer has received your letter of June 8, 1973, and has assigned it to the undersigned for research and reply.          As Coroner of Oktibbeha County, you request “ . . . further information as . . . to . . . section 3894 - the part as to a death by a known accident
You further advise: “I have several cases where no eye witness or medical help was available, so an inquest was held to determine the cause and in what manner the persons died.”
         I shall, for convenience, quote that part of Section 3894, Mississippi Code of 1942, Recompiled, to which you refer:
“ . . . but if any person is killed in the presence of witnesses, or come to his death by a known accident, it shall not be necessary to have an inquest.”
         The quoted language of the statute delineates those deaths not requiring an inquest; namely, “ . . . any person . . . killed in the presence of witnesses, . . . ” or whose death results from “ . . . a known accident, . . . ”          The statute does not define a known accident. It is, therefore, my opinion that the intent of the legislature in the use of the term is controlled by the generally accepted meaning of the language in context. It necessarily follows, therefore, that it is my opinion that the specified exception of death due to a known accident is in addition to the specified exception where one is killed in the presence of witnesses and that the presence of witnesses is not necessary to establish aknown...

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